Q: What is the mood like now you're all here? Do the Championships seem a lot closer now?

GN: Yes, I think so. There has been a big gap between the last game which I think is the right way to do it, because I think in the past we've had bad experiences at playing internationals in April, where you get a lot of pullouts, so I think it is the right. Everyone is fresh and looking forward to the summer.

Q: What about the challenge Brazil represent?

GN: We played Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine - all fantastic teams, and I think that is the best way to go. In the past leading up to the World Cup I think we played Saudi Arabia, an African team and Belgium, and you are not really tested in the sense that you are going to go and play against the best teams in the world. We are going to play against the best teams in Europe and none of them is going to be as good as the team on Saturday.

Q: You have not had success playing against Brazilians this season. Is that something you are looking forward to addressing?

GN: It's just another game. This season, I haven't had the greatest of experiences, but at the end of the day that is the way it goes, isn't it? There have been experiences good and bad down the years against Premiership opposition.

Q: Are you confident of making the 22?

GN: Yes, I am confident at making the 22. Looking at the make-up of the squad, I'm confident I will be in the 22. If I didn't look upon it that way, then there would be no point my being here. To be honest with you, my form, other than for a few important games, has been fine.

Q: Has the criticism helped you as far as focusing?

GN: Certainly the mistakes in Brazil were a kick up the backside for me, because I'd never experienced the criticism coming out of Brazil, I've never experienced that before. I'd seen close friends experience it and it's something that probably on a lesser scale I went through coming out of Brazil. Even the last three or four weeks, there have been doubts about me, but I will come out of this stronger.

Q: What is the planning against Roberto Carlos? What sort of specific problems does he pose?

GN: I don't know, really. I think I handled him pretty well out in Madrid. At home, I didn't have a problem playing against Roberto Carlos. My problem in the game at Old Trafford nothing to do with Roberto Carlos, it was to do with myself and my own lapse in concentration. I've played against him two or three times and never found it to be a problem.

Q: Do you try to push him on to his right foot?

GN: I don't, no. I just try and stop him getting in behind me and hopefully stop him crossing me, which I did in the two games in the two games against Real Madrid. He's a strange player in the sense that for a left-back, he doesn't want to defend - he wants to attack. I think the Brazilians are like that as a team and that's one of their greatest strengths, but it also can be a weakness.

Q: If you look at the Premiership, all the top teams are playing with back fours. Is there a feeling that in a way England should duplicate?

GN: I think you have to look at the teams that have had success, and most of them do play with the back four. I sometimes think my experience of playing with a back three at United have been that you lose a lot of your penetration going forward. I think Liverpool were an example of that when they played with a back three and they have gone to a back four now and they seem to have a lot more penetration about them. You usually have a great defensive record with that system.

Q: Does David Beckham play best when he's got you behind him?

GN: Yes.

Q: Not just you personally, but with a back four behind him?

GN: I don't think he has played often enough in a back five. It works for him playing on the right in front of a back four. For England, as a right wing-back, I am not sure it did work for him. I think there were times when he was ending up going too far back. I think that happened in the Scotland game at home, and I was pulling my hair out watching it on the TV. I know that David Beckham is comfortable playing with me.

Q: Did what he has to go through, with the pressures that he is under, help you when you were receiving a bit of stick earlier in the season?

GN: He is constantly getting it. I wouldn't say that I have had to deal with anything. I've had to accept the fact that I've made mistakes at a certain time and had to put up with criticism levelled at me but the David Beckham situation is totally different to mine.

Q: I suppose you can only have admiration for how he deals with all of that?

GN: Definitely.

Q: Are you the type to brood on mistakes, or do you brush them off?

GN: It plays on your mind but you move on. There are too many games coming up to even think about mistakes that you've made in other games.

Q: Do you find the mistakes are being talked about months afterwards?

GN: You see comments and you hear things. People make out I've had a disastrous season and they've probably only seen me two or three times. Like I said before, you play five, six years of international football and Champions League football against the best week in, week out, which you are bound to go through bad moments.

Q: Do you think the expectancy around the England team building up to the Championships is going to be a problem?

GN: I would prefer it if you were all against us, to be honest with you. Sometimes you're better off going into the championships on a low. I've only got experience of two championships where everybody was against us, and we performed fantastically well. We went into the World Cup and everybody was saying 'We're going to win it, we're going to do this, we're going to do that' and it went the other way, we didn't perform brilliantly well. I think sometimes we are better when the chips are down, people are against us.

Q: Is that a Manchester United thing, or is that a general thing within the England camp?

GN: I think it is probably a Manchester United thing. There's nothing better than being able to prove people wrong.

Q: Do you feel that personally about the fact that people have speculated that you wouldn't be in the team or in the final 22. Does it work on a personal level too?

GN: I don't think it works on a personal note, because I don't think that I'm down there to prove everybody wrong. I'm in the 28, I've been playing for Manchester United all season, so I do not feel in that position personally.

Q: You must be a better player now than when you went to the World Cup in '98?

GN: Definitely.

Q: Just through experience?

GN: To be honest with you, my best games for England have been in the major championships. I've found that my performances for England in friendly games haven't been wonderful but I honestly believe that I honestly believe I will end up in the team. That's my belief, never mind getting in the 22.

Q: How many defenders do you think you can take to a 22-man squad with three goalkeepers already?

GN: I think Terry Venables had four centre halves and me, Stuart Pearce and Philip as fullbacks. Hoddle had two fullbacks and five centre halves, Rio Ferdinand, Martin Keown, Southgate, Adams and Campbell. So they both had seven defenders. Now I look at the squad and there's only seven defenders in it. Both championship squads in the past have had seven defenders, so I see no reason why there shouldn't be cover at fullback and there shouldn't be cover at centre back within the seven. You usually have within that people who can move about and be adaptable.

Q: You mentioned the weaknesses in the group. Where would you say we were stronger than Portugal, Germany, Romania?

GN: I just think the players that we've got in our squad and the experience we've got stands us in better stead than those teams, maybe not Germany. Germany always are fantastic, but I don't think there's anybody to fear in. On their day and with their forward line, they can beat anyone. With the players we will have up front, there's got to be goals there.

Q: What about Germany?

GN: That's just going to be one hell of a battle.